Music To Roleplay To: Spirit of the Century

Today's instalment of Music To Roleplay To we pay homage to the Golden Age of heroic Pulp Magazines and action-filled Film Serials in Spirit of the Century!

Now as we all may know, one of the greatest modern pulp icons and homages to serialized film is Indiana Jones. Thus the brilliant score to his daring escapades by John Williams is a must for your pulp adventures. And don't limit your selection to just the films; video games that star the famous archaeologist like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Indiana Jones and The Emperor's Tomb or even the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles also have great tunes.


The downside to these scores is that they have very recognisable themes that may distract from gameplay. But fear not, there are a good many other selections you can use. Now, technically many of these soundtracks take place after the pulp era of the 20's & 30's, but I feel they capture the daring-do, two-fisted action quite well. I also decided to leave out selections from the Jazz Age; although great listening, I don't believe it's gritty enough for the genre.
Last Updated: Dec/2013

Original Soundtracks

• The Adventures of Tintin by John Williams
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire by James Newton Howard
• BioShock & BioShock 2 by Garry Schyman
• Captain America: The First Avenger by Alan Silvestri
• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge by Stan LePard
• Darkman by Danny Elfman
• Dick Tracy Original Score by Danny Elfman
• Hellboy & Hellboy II: The Golden Army by Marco Beltrami & Danny Elfman
• Iron Sky (We Come In Peace) by Laibach
• The Mummy by Jerry Goldsmith
• The Mummy Returns by Alan Silvestri
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor by Randy Edelman
• The Phantom by David Newman
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein by Bill Brown
• The Rocketeer by James Horner
• The Shadow by Jerry Goldsmith
• Sin City by John Debney, Graeme Revell, and Robert Rodriguez
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow by Edward Shearmur

Outside of soundtracks, there's a few artists who I believe fit in well to the genre.

• Dr. Steel fits in great with the whole 'mad scientist' shtick.
• Good Co's electro swing is a great fusion of swing music with modern influences.

Other RPGs these tunes could work well in: Adventure!, Hollow Earth Expedition, Indiana Jones, Two-Fisted Tales or any other Pulp-themed roleplaying game.

And always remember: The old-time pronunciation of Robot is: Ro-But. :-]

Leave a comment if you have any suggestions for additional listening!